3 Ways to Use March Madness to Amp Up Your Culture

March Madness is in full swing, and the sweet sixteen is around the corner. There’s plenty of talk about how this tournament will kill productivity in the workplace. But instead of shunning the March Madness, you ought to embrace it. With all the hype surrounding it, there’s a great opportunity to enhance your organizational culture through this tournament. Here are three ways you can leverage March Madness in your workplace without disrupting productivity:

1. Arcade tournament: Austin-based TicketCity creates their own internal tournament using arcade basketball. “The great thing is it only takes a few minutes for people to play each round, so it doesn’t cut into their day too much. But it’s a really great way for everyone to take a little breather and have fun together.”

TicketCity Employees competing during March Madness

2.Central streaming: Worried about bandwidth when every other employee starts streaming the game on their computers? Consider setting up a TV in a meeting room, auditorium, or cafeteria to stream the game. This way, employees can watch the tournament during their lunch break or even bring along their laptop to work while enjoying the game.

3. Team brackets: Instead of banning employees from going head-to-head with their own brackets, leverage this competitiveness. Have employees hang their predictions on a wall, so they can see who’s rooting for who. Then after the tournament is over, reward the winning person(s) with something fun like a lunch date or work-from-home option.

Organizations shouldn’t pretend March Madness isn’t happening. So instead of trying to ban talk around the tournament, leverage it to create a fun culture. You’ll gain happier employees, and happier employees leads to improved productivity.